The authors explore the cultural and familial factors that influence how emotions are communicated to children and the varied ways children's development is affected. They show how context--the nature of the relationship between partners, the cultural background, and the ongoing events surrounding communication between partners--plays a crucial role in determining what is communicated and understood through facial, vocal, and other means of emotion communication. And they reveal how emotion communication within the family directly affects the formation of children's self and other schemas and examine the role of emotion communication in the development of shame, guilt, and pride. This is the 77th issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Child Development.